


Silk

by Ansgår (vegardylvisaker)



Category: Ylvis
Genre: Incest, M/M, aerial silk duo au, depictions of their daily life basically, really this is just alternate reality, though /the ship/ is a thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 00:49:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4586706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vegardylvisaker/pseuds/Ansg%C3%A5r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somewhere, in an alternate universe that's not all too far from our reality, Bård and Vegard Ylvisåker chose their profession to be Aerial Silk instead of comedy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silk

**Author's Note:**

> i had the idea at 3am when i watched their gullruten performance and this is the result
> 
> (i did watch multiple duo performances by experienced aerial silk artists for reference)
> 
> (i think i should apologize in advance if some it doesn't seem to make sense though)

The black tights stick to his sweaty skin and they itch like hell but Vegard barely notices it. Everything around him is drowned out the moment before the curtain rises. His mind focuses on the choreography and the choreography only. One tiny mistake and the whole performance is ruined.

It's only seconds until they have to face the audience and Vegard's muscles sink further into relaxation. It is important to be as relaxed as possible before the show starts. This way one avoids cramping and making mistakes.

Vegard feels his brother's presence hovering somewhere next to him and for a moment his thoughts rush to Bård. The older one is more of a supporting actor in this scenario, with Bård being the subtle main role, and Vegard has to make sure he doesn't do anything wrong. The blonde's life kind of depends on his older brother tonight.

A crew member pats Vegard on the back and says, "Five, four, three, two-" and the curtain rises.

Vegard steps out onto the stage, feels the cool wood beneath his bare feet and smiles his brightest smile. The audience claps and cheers and it's a roaring sound that fills Vegard's ears and clouds his mind momentarily. Stepping through the curtain alongside his brother has always had a certain rush to it.

Both men walk in half-circles and bow low before they meet in the middle and face each other. This is the exact moment where the adrenaline kicks in. Right when Vegard looks into watery-blue eyes that are surrounded by red glitter and make-up, a shock seems to jolt through his brain and erase all joy and euphoria that the audience caused. All that's left now is pure concentration and self-discipline.

Two white aerial silk ropes are being let down between the brothers and the moment they touch the ground, the people in the hall fall into complete silence. The dark-haired gives Bård a small nod and he disappears into the over-shadowed part of the stage before Vegard grabs the ropes.

Vegard spreads his legs a bit and starts climbing the ropes using only his arms. Melancholic string quartet music starts playing in the background, slow and heavy like a grandmother's perfume. The audience holds their breath and so does Vegard once he's far up enough. He clenches his legs together, does a slow roll forward between the two ropes and wraps the fabric around his body in order to support it. While the dark-haired still tangles his limbs in the silk, Bård steps out from the shadows and the music changes.

A dark but less heavy melody performed by the theater's orchestra floods from the speakers now as Bård takes the ends of the ropes in both hands and holds them tight. Vegard hangs upside down above him, grabs the ropes as well and slowly pulls them towards his own bare chest to lift Bård off the ground. Vegard can feel the big amount of strength pulling at his muscles as he forces his movements to be as graceful and smooth as possible.

Bård lets go off one rope at the same time as his brother does and then grabs his free hand. He hangs in the air and looks at the ground, feels the grip around his left forearm tightening drastically as Vegard lets go of the other rope and grabs Bård's right arm as well. The blonde raises his head and catches a short glimpse of his brother's tense features before he pushes the rest of his body up into a roll forward that's followed by an upside down position as he does the splits.

The brothers vaguely notice the exaggerated cheers coming from the audience as the sad music drones on. The older one can feel Bård's weight straining his calves and ankles and he is thankful that they have a short performance tonight.

Bård lifts his legs from the splits and wraps them around Vegard's neck, simultaneously gripping the ropes and lifting his body up. The two men are back to back now, one dressed in black and hanging upside-down, one wearing white and facing the crowd. The latter lets himself fall forward after the crowd stops clapping, still gripping the fabric tight, and Bård can feel the silk burning itself into his palms. His legs swing around his brother's upper arms and both men can feel the motion strain their muscles. But discipline and years of training help them keep a straight face. One of the most important things about performing aerial silk is having control over your facial expression. Nobody is allowed to see the pain and effort that this beauty takes.

Both brothers hang upside down again now and Vegard feels the back of his head pressed to the younger one's lower stomach. They are going to perform a move that requires a lot of strength and teamwork now, Vegard has to brace himself before he gives the smallest of nods. He can feel Bård exhale behind him and suddenly the volume of the music rises, as well as the speed and anticipation of the melody. More and more strings are added to the piece and they create a tension so thick, one could almost touch it.

Another second passes which Bård uses to tangle his legs in the silk before everything seems to happen at once; Vegard pulls his legs out of the two ropes, forces his body into a half-roll backwards so his thighs collide with Bård's shoulders, and then he falls forward like his brother did just seconds ago. Bård lets go of the white fabric that burned his hands and stretches his arms out, instantly grabbing Vegard's forearms. The dark-haired slides off Bård's upper body and suddenly he hangs free, twenty feet above ground.

Supported by nothing but his little brother's arms, Vegard dangles in the air and his body feels like one big, tense muscle. Everything happened in the matter of two seconds - the movements, the crowd gasping in unison, the music coming to a sudden halt with a bang. The two men wanted to make it look like Vegard could've fallen any moment, could've died right there on stage. They wanted to present reality without the crowd realizing - and it worked out. They put themselves into life-threatening danger for everyone to see and it entertained the audience like nothing else.

-

Vegard sits next to his sleeping brother in a taxi cab's backseat and stares at his palms. The bandages wrap around Bård's hands like they're almost too tight and Vegard vaguely wonders if they help anything. He remembers the open wounds cracking the skin and it feels as if he could see right through the thick white.

Bård said it's nothing - he can 'barely feel' the pain. But Vegard knows that's not entirely true. His brother pretends to make himself feel better about the whole thing but he can't be too far from his breaking point. Nobody can endure that many burns and over-stretched muscles without physically collapsing one day.

The car ride is short and silent and when they arrive at the hotel, Vegard already has his money counted and ready to pay. He forces Bård awake against his own will, mumbles his goodbye to the taxi driver and half drags, half pushes Bård into their hotel room.

Vegard leads the younger Ylvisåker by the shoulders to the shared king-size bed and pushes him down to sit on the edge. "D'you want to take off your clothes first?" he asks half-heartedly. He knows the answer already, it's pure politeness from his side to ask. Bård stays silent as he scrambles onto the bed, kicks off his shoes and instantly starts to snore lightly.

"I'll just leave you here to die then." whispers Vegard, switches off the light and goes into the bathroom.

* * *

The next morning comes much faster than wanted but still too late. The older brother forgot to set the alarm clock to 07:00 am and so the two men wake up two hours later instead.

"Fuck, we booked the stage for three hours only!" shouts Bård from the bathroom and real despair vibrates in his voice. "Could we talk to the manager? We need our time to rehearse!"

Vegard feels a pang of guilt in his chest as he tries to come up with an answer. He shouldn't have dragged Bård into this whole business - he is much too eager and obsessed with it. The blonde took off the bandages that covered his burns a minute ago, even though he should've kept them on for at least two more days.

Bård walks out of the bathroom with raised eyebrows and Vegard's gaze darts to his palms immediately. "Okay, look, Bård..." is all the dark-haired has to say before the anxiousness creeps onto his brother's face. Vegard prepares himself for the ridiculous, inevitable breakdown that sure will come.

"I think we should-... We've got another five hour rehearsal tonight, so I think it's okay if we drop this one."

Vegard watches as every sign of hope slithers off his brother's face. "What? No, Vegard, we still got one hour left! Gullruten is in a few days, we need to-"

The older one rolls his eyes and turns to sit down on the bed. "If you wanna go for forty-five minutes and smear your blood all over the ropes, fine, okay. But I'm not coming."

"Vegard, we-... Please, you know I can't practice alone, it's a duet performance!"

"Exactly." Vegard's voice isn't particularly harsh or loud but the big-brother-authority swings in it and Bård realizes it's useless. He sinks down on the bed, next to Vegard, and his shoulders hang as low as physically possible. The older one is quite surprised that his brother gave up that quickly; It is almost disturbing how excessively the younger Ylvisåker strives for perfection.

Vegard puts a hand on Bård's back and caresses the spot in slow circles. "I know how important this is for you, Bård, but we deserve some rest. We practice up to twelve hours a day! There's barely time for _us_ anymore."

The blonde turns his head and sniffs. "As if there's _ever_ been enough time for us."

Vegard stops his movements. "What do you mean?"

"I mean-... I'm just saying that... Nevermind." Bård sounds hurt and desperate and this certain mixture is reserved for his older brother only. For whatever it is between him and Bård.

Like always, Vegard doesn't respond. He has nothing to say. There isn't anything he could say to make it better, to heal Bård somehow or promise him a brighter future. He knows there is nothing but work and pain in store for them. Vegard suffers just as much as Bård, maybe in a different way, but he doesn't speak about it. Feelings aren't his forte, especially not the ones regarding his brother. Their relationship is twisted and wrong enough as it is - Vegard doesn't have to make it worse by declaring his undying love for Bård.

So instead of talking, the dark-haired lets his actions speak for him as he pulls his brother into a tight embrace.

There is more to this, to _them_ , than acrobatics and brotherhood. Neither of the two men is ready to give it a voice because verbalizing it would make it _real_. They refuse to believe it somehow - every stolen kiss, every lingering touch, every gaze that's just a second too long. Both brothers know that whatever they share isn't healthy. It's dangerous and destructive and it only adds up to their misery. But they can't stop themselves from feeling and touching and staring and just plain _being_. 

-

Bård already wears his white tights and a navy blue t-shirt when Vegard comes back from the bathroom. They barely got here but Bård strictly believes in the saying 'Time is money and money we don't have'. Vegard puts on his black tights and walks over to the younger one.

"Okay, we'll warm up for five minutes before we start. Due to the rehearsal we didn't have this morning, we have to take extra care of our limbs."

Bård only gives a curt nod before he grabs his brother's arms and twists them over his head. He doesn't have time for 'extra care' - his brother should know that. Vegard lets out a low hiss of air but doesn't complain. He definitely felt pain worse than this before.

The younger Ylvisåker takes hold of Vegard's hands and bends his arms even further over his head. The dark-haired can feel him stretch the muscles in achingly slow, resilient movements and it burns like hell. Admittedly, this is a completely wrong way of stretching and it doesn't have a long-lastic effect. But it's enough to warm the muscles up quickly so they can start their training as fast as possible.

When Bård deems his brother's arms stretched enough, he pushes him down to the ground by his shoulders and makes him sit on his butt with spread legs. The blonde kneels down between them and places one hand on each inner thigh. Silently and professional does he start pushing them apart as wide as possible while Vegard has to provide backpressure with his upper body. This hurts even more than the 'exercise' before but Vegard stays silent; One isn't allowed to show any feelings during the final performance.

Bård forces Vegard into doing the splits before he helps him back up and lets the older one perform the same exercise on him. The wounds on his hands are already forgotten but Bård feels the forced stretching strain his muscles and make his skin burn. He is mentally numb to it tough - his only focus is the end result. He is ready to do whatever it takes.

When they are finally done with warming up, Vegard talks his brother into doing two handstands before he removes the two white silk ropes from their hooks. He takes them into one hand and walks toward the center of the stage, then automatically wraps them around his arms. At first it seems like Vegard is just aimlessly wandering back and forth, swinging his arms a bit. But then he takes a few steps back, starts running - and lifts himself off the ground in a jump that's followed by a backward roll.

Bård watches with critical eyes as his brother tangles his stocky frame in the shiny fabric that always seems too fragile to hold two grown men's weight. "You're not graceful enough!" yells the blonde and walks toward the attraction before him. "The roll was alright but your arms aren't extended enough now, that's about as elegant as- okay, no, maybe if you- ... No, Vegard, you-"

Bård stops himself before his frustration can spread and take his mind off things. Instead of complaining he chooses to go and help his brother out for once. "Look, okay, come down. I'll show you what I mean."

So now it's Vegard's turn to watch critically as his little brother swings his slender frame into the hair, seemingly effortless and beautiful as ever. Vegard isn't jealous but he sure does admire him for his abilities. He knows how much work he has to put into this, experiences it every day, but Bård is also naturally gifted. That is one of the reasons Vegard kind of pressured him into acrobatics at a very young age.

"...listening to me?" Bård's voice is sharp and rips the dark-haired out of his thoughts. "I'm talking to you, dickhead."

Vegard blinks the blur that nostalgia casted on his vision away before he mumbles an apology. "What did you say? I was watching though, everything was perfect!"

Bård looks seriously annoyed as he winds his body out of the rope knot and falls to the earth like Spider-Man. "You must've watched as closely as you listened because it _wasn't_ perfect. And I asked you where we're gonna have dinner tonight, _if_ we're gonna eat at all."


End file.
